The dark horse rides again

Social platforms like Facebook and Snapchat are trying hard to become publishers or to host content from media companies, but one of the platforms that has been quietly doing this for years now — and continues to grow that side of its business — is LinkedIn

The idea of publishers becoming open platforms for “social journalism” isn’t a radical new internet invention, it’s an acknowledgement of the way the media works now — what’s important is to figure out how to manage that transition properly

LinkedIn, which just opened up its publishing platform to anyone for free, has one big strength that most of its traditional publishing competitors don’t have, and that should be keeping them awake at night — if they aren’t already

There’s been plenty of focus on how publishers are catering to advertisers by producing “native” advertising, including sponsored content — but a much bigger trend is brands and advertisers that are becoming publishers themselves.

The Washington Post has launched a feature offering advertisers the ability to place sponsored content on its site, and while this form of advertising has come under fire, other media outlets should consider doing the same.

Technology blog ReadWriteWeb, which was acquired by Say Media last December, has hired “Fake Steve Jobs” author Dan Lyons as editor-in-chief. The site is also getting a tablet-friendly redesign and a new name, ReadWrite.

There’s been a lot of debate about whether a Forbes blog post that excerpted and summarized a New York Times story qualifies as journalism or not — but to some extent that’s a red herring. The only question that matters is whether the reader is served.

There’s been a lot of talk about “branding” and media lately, sparked in part by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten’s recent anti-branding rant, in which he said it was “ruining journalism.” But like it or not, branding is now an inescapable part of new media.

Forbes media writer Jeff Bercovici says Journalism 2.0 is somehow to blame for the deaths of 24 people in Afghanistan in the wake of a Quran burning in Florida. But the story he refers to says more about Journalism 1.0 than it does about new media.

Want to know how one of the first Google TV devices looks like on the inside? Well, you’re in luck: iFixit just published a Logitech Revue teardown, revealing that the hardware that makes Google TV work isn’t really all that different from a plain old netbook.

Forbes magazine has been talking with major advertisers about giving them blogs on the magazine’s website that would blend their marketing message in with Forbes’s editorial content, but blurring the line between advertising and journalism is a hugely risky bet for the business publication to make.